Calvin Harris had the best year of his career in 2013, earning $46 million and a spot atop our annual Electronic Cash Kings list after missing the cut entirely in 2012. Will he keep his crown? Can he approach or exceed his gaudy earnings totals going forward? And what about the other multi-millionaire DJs earnings hundreds of thousands of dollars per night?

The answers to those questions and many others will be revealed when we release our third annual Electronic Cash Kings packageon Tuesday, August 19th, co-edited by myself and my colleague Ryan Mac.

In addition to ranking the world’s highest-paid DJs, we’ll offer exclusive looks-via print, web and video features-into the career of rising superstar Martin Garrix, the post-Swedish House Mafia success of Steve Angello, the business of the increasingly popular Hardwell and the prospects of female electronic acts like Nervo.We’ll even bring you footage of one DJ’s set from the rooftop of our New York headquarters.

In the meantime, we’re opening up our annual challenge: correctly guess this year’s ten top-earning DJs, and you’ll win a signed copy of my new book,Michael Jackson, Inc. (Though the King of Pop wasn’t exactly a DJ, his trailblazing moves in the monetization of fame paved the way for celebrity entrepreneurs of many stripes, including the current crop of EDM stars).

Leave your entries in the comments section below. Anybody who guesses all ten in order gets a special prize in addition to the book.If nobody accurately predicts all ten, the closest guess still wins a book.

Thanks for reading, and be sure to tune in on Tuesday!

For more about the business of music, check out my Jay Z biographyEmpire State of Mindand my new bookMichael Jackson, Inc. You can follow me onTwitteramp;Facebook.

With a social worker union strike looming, the Butler County commissioners learned Thursday that Children Services is forcasting a $2.6 million shortfall in funds and might not be able to make payroll by the end of 2015.

Negotiations between management and the union shut down yesterday after six-and-a-half hours and about 90 workers are scheduled to go on strike Monday morning. At issue is wages, and Assistant Human Resources Director Jim Davis has said the two sides are about $1 million apart.

The agency’s finance manager Barb Fabelo informed the commissioners that, based on her projections using the past six months of spending data, the agency expenditures will reach $26.6 million but revenues will only reach $24 million so they will have to dip into $2.8 million in reserves at the end of this year. She said if the expected second half levy receipt drops below the expected $6.6 million she will have to “drastically” revise her numbers.

She said they can make it through this year and next but she is projecting a deficit of $1.7 million in 2016 and $3.9 million in 2017 if they don’t change their spending habits. She said she projected flat salaries and state and federal aide. Placing children outside their homes is the biggest drain on the budget.

“One of our biggest areas of expenditures, highest, is placement expenses,” she said. “I’m estimating our residential treatment costs at year-end to come in at 196 percent.That means we’re going to spend all of our budget and almost double that.”

In 2010 Children Services spent $9.1 million on placements and $2.1 million on services aimed at keeping children in their homes. Last year the placement costs jumped to $10 million and service costs dropped to $1 million.

Executive Director Jerome Kearns announced a complete agency overhaul in February and that plan — to streamline processes and offer aggressive intervention for parents who need it — should help reduce the placement costs Fabelo said. The strike on the other hand is a big unknown. While the workers are striking they won’t be paid, but the county is undergoing a massive hiring effort at the moment, trying to get warm bodies in to do the work of the striking workers. Fabelo agreed the new employees will likely be paid less than their striking counterparts.

Commissioner Don Dixon also brought up a levy renewal — the current levy expires in 2017 — saying passage is not a given, so he and his fellow commissioners agreed they need to come up with a Plan B to finance the agency.

“This levy we’re talking about, the $13 million, is a gift from the taxpayers. They’re not required to make this payment, it’s just something they voluntarily put on for the children,” he said. “This (the financial forecast) is all under the assumption that the taxpayers will renew this gift.”

Fabelo agreed but said taxpayers have pretty routinely passed the levy, but the strike could factor in.

“We’ve been successful, we just don’t know what our citizens will do,” she said. “I concern myself with the potential for a strike to impact how our voters feel.”

Union President Becky Palmer said this situation is like deja vu for her and other long time workers. She said several years ago high placement costs were reduced by investing in programs that gave families intensive guidance and supervision, so that the children in many cases didn’t have to be removed from the homes.

“Even in running a business, you invest in the right tools and resources to do the most efficient and quality job,” she said. “We are the tools and resources and if they would allow us to do our job and do it well, the outcome will be safer children and healthier families. If we continue to operate this way, the outcomes will continue to cost this community and the families we serve more in the long run.”

When you hear that chant on the soccer field, you are about to meet the team from the Singing River Soccer Club coached by Roland Reynolds of Pascagoula.

Reynolds, who works in Business Management at Northrop Grumman, managing and maintaining program finances for a defense contracting company, has been associated with the SRSC as a player and coach for almost 25 years.

I see SRSC as a platform for young players to learn to enjoy the game. And then as a stepping stone to take the next step into their soccer career if they choose to pursue it diligently, Reynolds said.

For 17 years, Reynolds has coached teams from U-5 to U-19, both girls and boys, at levels D1-D3. Hes coached girls and boys high school teams, and takes pride in that many of the players hes coached have gone on to play in college.

His favorite part of coaching is inspiring passion in young athletes.

Its an amazing feeling watching someone else fall in love with the sport that has given you so much in life.

But along with the elation of winning, comes the heartbreak of a loss, a player not making a team or feeling like theyve disappointed the coach or their parents.

Watching that heartbreak happen, seeing tears in a players eyes, while it swells me with pride to see how much they care and feel about the sport, it never gets any easier.

Reynolds describes his coaching technique as firm, consistent and fun.

I am very passionate and share in the emotions of my players. I like for them to know I care just as much as they do.

Reynolds coaches because someone who was instrumental in his life and his development as a young man coached him.

He taught me far more than soccer on and off the field.

Reynolds plans to coach as long as he has something positive to give and is able to inspire a new generation.

Coaching his daughter, Bella, is the single hardest thing hes ever done. Its also the most rewarding, as she has a passion for soccer that cant be taught.

Watching her express her creativity and cunning on the field is a joy that cant be explained, only felt.

Reynolds is somewhat superstitious. He never ends practice or warm-ups with a miss, and never cleans his boots unless having suffered a loss.

He would like to be remembered as a man who taught more than a game, and gave more than just soccer instruction to his players.

He tells his players what he believes: If you do not love what you are doing then why do it? Find something you love and work hard at it because the sacrifices that have to be made to achieve that goal will not seem like sacrifices at all.

When not working or coaching, Reynolds enjoys going to the gym and spending time with his wife and daughter.

The Ombudsman has indicted a former mayor Edgar Fumar of Caluba, Biliran for fraud for failure to liquidate cash advances of more than P230,000, court officials said on Friday.

The Ombudsman, in a resolution, said Fumar ignored demands in 20006 and 2008 by the Commission on Audit to liquidate the advances he incurred as mayor.

There is probable cause to indict Fumar in view of his temerity and utter disregard of the laws and rules on accountability and proper use of public funds, the Ombudsman resolution said.

In Lapu-lapu City in Cebu, Mayor Paz Radaza posted bail of P140,000 to pre-empt a warrant of arrest on graft charges in connection with the P15 million pork barrel funds intended for the Girl Scouts.

Radaza said she was surprised at being named of the of the respondents in the case, which involved the pork barrel funds of former Cebu Rep. Clavel Asas-Martinez intended for the Girl Scouts anti-drug campaign.

Since 2002 I have never received any communication or summon from the Ombudsman about the case. I thought I was not part of that case, Radaza said.

Radaza, who was former treasurer of the Girl Scouts Cebu City chapter, denied she pocketed a single centavo from the pork barrel funds of Asas-Martinez, who was the chapter president.

She said, as treasure, she signed documents, which were signed by the president and brought to her office.

Note: This is adapted from a brief that was published Aug. 8 by the Philadelphia-based group Research for Action. The full brief can be found here.

Philadelphiaâs school funding situation is a central issue in state policy discussions. The recent debate has focused on cityâs authority to raise taxes on cigarettes. But the essential questions on whether the school system has enough money have been present in the state capitol for at least two decades.

The Commonwealth Foundation released a brief on Philadelphia school trends recently that received prominent attention in the local press. It argued that despite a funding increase, the District has little academic improvement to show for it.

The main arguments presented in the brief are:

Â âRevenue and spending have soared over the last 10 years.â

Â âDespite spending more on education, performance is lagging.â

Â Student âenrollment has declined more rapidly than staff.â

Â âSystemic reform is needed.â

But our analysis shows that the briefâs evidence and conclusions are misleading, inaccurate and devoid of context. For instance, the foundation fails to note that the bulk of the revenue âincreaseâ in the last five years of the sample came in the form of proceeds from borrowing. And much of that money went to pay for mandated, and climbing, costs related to special education, and charter schools.

We examine each point below, using our own data supplemented by research from other non-partisan organizations.

Claim: âRevenue and spending have soared over the last 10 years.â

The authors say that District revenue increased by more than $1 billion from 2003 to 2013, total spending per student has increased, and charter schools spend less money than District schools. Each claim deserves attention.

According to the brief: âEven accounting for inflation, the district has received revenue increases from state, local, and federal sources.â The authors select 2002-2003 through 2012-13, the most recent year that District annual financial reports were released by the state. The foundation is correct that the total revenue has increased during this period. Philadelphia, like every district in the state, received substantial state funding increases from 2002-03 to 2008-09. But the foundationâs analysis does not provide a full picture of Philadelphiaâs situation.

The above chart shows what has happened in the last five years of the sample, from 2008-09 to 2012-13.

Funding did not âsoar,â as the authors claim. Closer examination shows a $350 million increase to the District since 2008 â 13 percent over five years â $260 million of which came from borrowing. City and federal revenue showed net gains of $120 million and $97 million respectively, while state funding declined by $144 million. The borrowing is reflected in the âotherâ line.

The graph shows clearly that when state and federal funding dropped $300 million in 2011-12, local funding increases could not cover the gap. In 2012, local officials borrowed $300 million to open the schools. That money covered just one year but must be paid back with interest over the long term, further adding to the rising annual costs that the Commonwealth Foundation repeatedly decries in its analysis.

Further, it should be emphasized that the 2013-14 school year is not incorporated in this analysis. In that year, District officials laid off 3,700 teaching, support, administrative, and other staff. They closed 30 school buildings in the last two school years.

Why the cost increases occurred, and what money must be spent on, are at the heart of the matter here.

Mandated costs in areas like special education and charter schools, along with debt payments and transportation, have increased. Charter schools, the largest of these expenditures, now account for 30 percent of the Districtâs budget. They undeniably contribute to the Districtâs rising costs. More than 35 percent of Philadelphiaâs students are enrolled in charter schools, one of the highest rates in the country. The number has doubled in the last five years. Each seat costs the District an extra $7,000. In this way, the authors criticize the District for spending money on the same schools they contend should be further expanded.

One last point: It is not clear that âcharter schools spend and receive less money per student than district schools.â For example, in 2011, the average per pupil spending in a Philadelphia charter school was almost even with spending per pupil in district schools ($11,674 to $11,637), according to the most recent data released by the federal government. However, this information needs to be examined more closely, over a period of years, before coming to a conclusion.

Claim: âDespite spending more on education, performance is lagging.â

Nobody should be satisfied with academic performance among city students. Outcomes â test scores, college attendance, job rates â do not match those of suburban districts. However, the way the analysts choose their supporting evidence and what they leave out are important.

The analysis of lagging student achievement rests solely on rates of proficiency and above on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Decades of social science research point to a close link between levels of concentrated poverty and student test results. Given that Philadelphiaâs poverty rate is among the highest in the nation, it is not surprising that the Districtâs NAEP results would lag behind other districts. Context matters here. Philadelphia has comparable NAEP scores to Los Angeles or Chicago, two cities with significantly lower poverty rates.

Claim: âEnrollment has declined more rapidly than staff.â

The authors state that Philadelphia School District enrollment has declined by 25 percent from 2003 to 2013 and that the number of teachers declined 6.7 percent during this same period. There are a number of cautions with regard to this point. First, the range under examination does not include 2013-14, a year of drastic cuts to the District. Second, dividing student enrollment by the teaching complement does not provide an accurate reflection of average class sizes. Other factors complicate this calculation, including high rates of special education students who require more teachers. Third, noting a 25 percent enrollment drop without mentioning parallel growth in charters masks an important point: Philadelphiaâs enrollment has shifted more than it has declined in the last decade

This shift adds costs to the entire school system. This cost is particularly acute in Pennsylvania due to the nature of the stateâs funding design, which passes the burden of charter costs to the local level. State law requires local districts pay charter schools for each student who enrolls. Districts are hard pressed to pare personnel, building, and service costs proportionately, and Pennsylvania no longer provides funds to help school districts offset the costs caused by rapid charter growth.

Lastly, even if this point were accurate, shrinking class sizes could be seen as a positive development, as research suggests that smaller classes contribute to achievement gains for historically disadvantaged students in early grades.

Claim: Systemic reform is needed.

The authors conclude their brief by stating that additional taxes will not solve Philadelphiaâs problems, saying instead that âSystemic reform is needed. This should include expanded school choice, union concessions in labor contracts, and seniority reform to end âLast-in, First-outâ rules.â

Few districts in the nation have experienced more education âreformsâ than Philadelphia during recent years. These efforts included state takeover, expanded school choice through both brick-and-mortar and cyber charter schools, an initiative to diversify school managers, and school closures. Philadelphia has faced state funding cuts during a period of rapid cost escalation. Local funding increases have not kept pace.

A more complete grasp of the situation here is whatâs truly needed in Harrisburg, not coded calls for reform.

Almost a quarter of British football clubs say their finances need attention or are cause for grave concern, according to a BDO report.

And 94% feel the gap between larger and smaller clubs is widening.

The wealth gap being exacerbated by TV revenue, brand power and new Financial Fair Play rules is also of concern.

The success of the Premier League has tended to concentrate wealth in the hands of the few at the expense of many, said Trevor Birch of BDO LLP.

The accountancy and business advisory firm spoke to finance directors at 67 clubs from across the English Premier League, Football League Championship, Leagues One and Two and the Scottish Premiership.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has succeeded in wrestling down the yen and snapping a 15-year deflationary spiral. The challenge of spurring lending by the country’s cash-hoarding megabanks remains.

The nation’s three largest lenders increased their cash and deposits with other financial institutions 5.7 percent in the quarter to June to 82 trillion yen ($800 billion) from the previous three-month period, earnings data show. New loans by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. fell 329 billion yen to 239.1 trillion yen.

Abe needs to spur lending after the world’s third-largest economy shrank at an annualized 6.8 percent in the second quarter due to an April sales-tax increase aimed at curbing the world’s biggest debt burden. While the banks can no longer park excess cash in sovereign debt amid expectations for higher yields, falling loan rates have narrowed the spread over deposit payments to levels that discourage extending credit, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

“The big three are at a turning point,” said Graeme Knowd, an associate managing director who oversees corporate and financial institutions at Moody’s in Tokyo, in an interview. “They haven’t really taken credit risk for a long time. If Abenomics works, they need to reorient the business model.”

Fish feed producer Biomar confirmed that Chile remains a key market for it, as several of its customers there begin to look stronger.

“Chile is a very important market, our second-biggest, and biologically it is on a good trend,” Biomar CEO Torben Svejgaard told Undercurrent News.

“Several of our customers there are reporting good quarters financially, and if they have some periods with good prices ahead they will be looking quite stable.”

In the second quarter of 2014, the Americas contributed revenues of DKK 606 million, up from DKK 573m in the same quarter of 2013. In the first half of 2014, the Americas has seen revenues of DKK 1.27 billion, compared to DKK 1.2bn in 2013.

“The financial reports released by Biomars customers were encouraging in the sense that they indicate a general improvement in the companies financial situation,” noted Biomar parent company Schouw in its mid-year report. “No year-on-year growth is expected in the fish feed market in the second half of 2014,” it added of Chile.

Biomar as a whole generated a first half 2014 revenue of DKK 3.4bn. “While virtually unchanged relative to last year, the revenue was based on a significant increase in volumes and correspondingly lower selling prices caused by lower raw materials prices.”

Feed sales volumes were up in the North Sea region due to a much larger overall market, which was very much the result of favorable water temperatures at the beginning of the year, and this more than compensated for the slightly-below-normal market share, the company noted.

Volumes grew substantially in the Americas, due to the combination of a larger overall market and a higher market share. Continental Europe reported lower volumes, mainly due to the financial situation facing Biomars largest customer in Greece and, to a lesser extent, the general credit squeeze in southern Europe.

Gross profit improved in H1 2014, driven by the larger volumes, and Biomar reported ebit of DKK 112m, compared with DKK 63m in H1 2013. Bottom line profit was DKK 78.2m for the first six months of 2014, up from DKK 52.2m.

Norway competition

Svejgaard acknowledged that Norway is very competitive – more so than usual – with Marine Harvest removing some of the available market share by building its own feed production one contributing factor.

“We remain committed to the Norwegian market. Our investment there [to increase production by 30%] speaks louder than much of what I can say,” he said.

“Norway has always been, and will always be, a very competitive market, as all our markets are. But we believe after an unusual period it will eventually return to a normal, tough competitive situation.”

Growth in the Norwegian fish feed market in Q2 2014 was driven by a larger biomass relative to last year. This situation is set to change in the second half of 2014, however, as the overall market is projected to be on a level with 2013, the Schouw report noted.

“In addition, the worlds largest salmon farming company, Marine Harvest, has now started up its own production of fish feed, and as a result the overall accessible market for the three major fish feed producers is expected to contract in the second half of the year.”

“The Norwegian fish feed market remains extremely competitive, but following contract negotiations in the second quarter, Biomar expects to have a normal market share in the upcoming high season.”

Greek troubles and Turkish futures

In Continental Europe, there were no visible signs of progress for the major Greek fish farmers, as their creditors apparently cannot agree on how to tackle the situation, Schouw wrote.

This is also the case for Biomars formerly largest customer in Greece, which for almost a year has been facing actual bankruptcy, managing again and again to postpone the process.

In June Biomar told Undercurrent negotiations with banks about the situation of bass and bream producer Dias, a major client, had yielded little progress so far.

“At Biomar, we believe that Greek aquaculture has a great future. But the new owners, in many cases that banks, need to act faster,” said Biomar’s Europe deputy president Carlos Diaz.

Given the provisions made, and because receivables have been secured by collateral, Biomar expects to avoid an accounting loss for 2014, but the situation has a severe negative impact on sales in Greece.

“Until they resolve their problems with debt and so on, the industry in Greece is not sustainable,” Svejgaard said. “The country is a long-term market for us still, but currently it is in difficulties.”

Of its recently-signed joint venture with Turkish feed producer Sagun, the CEO was more optimistic.

“Greece has declined, and Turkey is now the second-largest fish feed market in Europe. Its a long term plan – we wont really start there until late 2015 – but its very interesting. While Greece is just seabass and bream, Turkey is 50-50 on those, and trout.”

Mone Davis delivers in the first inning against Nashville, Tenn. during a baseball game in United States pool play at the Little League World Series tournament in South Williamsport, Pa., Aug. 15, 2014.
Gene J. Puskar–AP

Mone Davis threw a complete-game shutout, Trey Hondras divulged that he talks to girls before games for good luck and we learned about a real person named Cash Money

(CNN) — Want to Walk the Line where Johnny Cash once played as a child?

Before he changed the music industry with songs like Ring of Fire and Folsom Prison Blues, Johnny Cash spent his hardscrabble childhood in the small community of Dyess, Arkansas.

The Johnny Cash Boyhood Home, the newest of Arkansas State Universitys Heritage Sites, opens Saturday for public tours after a restoration project that includes other historic buildings.

When visitors walk into the home, they are stepping back into the 1930s. Cash family artifacts original to the home include the piano that belonged to Johnnys mother, his fathers shaving mug and even the original flooring in his childhood bedroom and the living room. The living room linoleum still has burn marks caused by the wood-burning stove.

Other furnishings and objects are of the time period and mostly contributed by donors, said Ruth Hawkins, director of Arkansas Heritage Sites at Arkansas State University. They are based on the photos and memories of Tommy Cash and Joanne Cash Yates, two of Johnny Cashs siblings.

Period details include a pedestal sewing machine, a battery-operated radio like one Johnny Cash would play at night and the living-room sofa. The period icebox and corner cabinet were painted the apple-green color the siblings remember.

The Dyess Colony was a federal agricultural resettlement community created in 1934, part of President Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal program in response to the Great Depression. The colony provided homes and jobs for about 500 poor farm families, including the Cash family.

Johnny, called JR at the time, was 3 years old when his family moved into a Dyess home in 1935. Johnny spent his childhood in Dyess, attending school and church in the town. He also suffered an enormous loss when his brother Jack was killed in a sawmill accident in 1944. Cash left JR behind and became Johnny when he left Arkansas for the Air Force in 1950.

Arkansas was an important influence on Cash, who told audiences how Five Feet High and Rising and many of his other songs were influenced by his time living in Dyess.

The little church in Dyess, Arkansas, has been such an inspiration to me, and (so have) the people from Dyess, Cash said at the 40th reunion of Dyess High School in 1990, in a video exhibited at the Dyess Colony Museum.

Cash died in 2003, leaving four daughters from his first marriage to Vivian Liberto. Cash and his second wife, singer June Carter Cash, had a son together. June Carter Cash died earlier in 2003.

The annual Johnny Cash Music Festival, which starts on Friday in nearby Jonesboro, has raised almost $2 million to fund the restoration project. Headliners for this years sold-out festival include Reba McEntire, Bobby Bare and Loretta Lynn, who are donating their performances, as have artists in previous years.

With the restoration of Cashs childhood home and nearby Dyess Colony Administration Building complete, work has already begun on the restoration of the historic Dyess Theatre adjacent to the administration building, to be used as a visitor center.

In his 1997 autobiography, Cash, he credited his state with inspiring his music. Back in Arkansas, a way of life produced a certain kind of music.